Hey Dale, I beat up on the POS but could not duplicate the Close Register crash. So it could have been anything not related directly to the POS. But I guess POS users around the world can live with loss of 1 second of their day in the name of data safety! I'm going to keep hitting it (the g version) a few more time to see if it will 'talk'.
Any ways found some stuff related to Gift Cards. Some things may be by design others may have turned up a bug. I'll just make some observations.
1. When a Gift Card is sold its ID is printed on the receipt in the description area. Similar to any item sold.
When using the
5. Void to view the transaction on screen the Card ID does not show in the description. Why? If I sold 3 cards how do I know which one it is?
2. For transactions paid by Gift Cards (or Checks) it looks like one of the lines is missing a CRLF at the end of the Change Due line, when viewing the saved journal or printed receipts. The result is the same if set up for 40 or 80 wide.
Sample 40 wide: '
Check #: xx' is on the Change Due line. As is the
'REMAINING VALUE' for pay by Gift Card.
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---------------------------------------
TRAN ASSOCIATE TIME
1020 10:09
13-2-----------------------------------
STOCK NUMBER DESCRIPTION PRICE
14664 THIS IS ITEM #14664
T6 2 at 3666ea. 7332
5284 THIS IS ITEM #5284
T5 1 at 5284ea. 5284
---------------------------------------
3
SUB TOTAL 12616
TAX5 at 1.625% 86
TAX6 at 10.000% 733
TOTAL TAX 819
TOTAL 13435
---------------------------------------
CHECK TENDERED 13435
CHANGE DUE 0 Check #: 33
ID #: 1234SDF
Phone: 1231234444
04-10-2011
---------------------------------------
TRAN ASSOCIATE TIME
1021 10:09
13-3-----------------------------------
STOCK NUMBER DESCRIPTION PRICE
14664 THIS IS ITEM #14664
T6 2 at 3666ea. 7332
5284 THIS IS ITEM #5284
T5 1 at 5284ea. 5284
---------------------------------------
3
SUB TOTAL 12616
TAX5 at 1.625% 86
TAX6 at 10.000% 733
TOTAL TAX 819
TOTAL 13435
---------------------------------------
GIFT CARD TENDERED 13435
CHANGE DUE 0REMAINING VALUE
1234XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 9859565
04-10-2011
Here's it in 80 wide: Gift card sample shown. But results are also the same for pay by Check.
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRAN ASSOCIATE TIME
1015 10:02
12-3---------------------------------------------------------------------------
STOCK NUMBER DESCRIPTION TAX RATE PIECES UNIT PRICE PRICE
14664 THIS IS ITEM #14664 TAX6 2 at 3666ea. 7332
5284 THIS IS ITEM #5284 TAX5 1 at 5284ea. 5284
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3
SUB TOTAL 12616
TAX5 at 1.625% 86
TAX6 at 10.000% 733
TOTAL TAX 819
TOTAL 13435
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GIFT CARD TENDERED 13435
CHANGE DUE 0REMAINING VALUE
1234XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 9873000
04-10-2011
3. Similar to the above is with the User Defined pay. The date is wrapped back up to the end of the CHANGE line.
Code: Select all
---------------------------------------
TRAN ASSOCIATE TIME
1034 12:00
15-2-----------------------------------
STOCK NUMBER DESCRIPTION PRICE
14664 THIS IS ITEM #14664
T6 2 at 3666ea. 7332
5284 THIS IS ITEM #5284
T5 1 at 5284ea. 5284
---------------------------------------
3
SUB TOTAL 12616
TAX5 at 1.625% 86
TAX6 at 10.000% 733
TOTAL TAX 819
TOTAL 13435
---------------------------------------
USER DEFINED TENDERED 13435
CHANGE DUE 0 04-10-2011
Also related to the User Defined Payment. As you can see below, In the
5. Void screen the user defined payment description visible as the payment method.
(as defined in the payment options of posconfg)
Code: Select all
│
│ Sub Total: 12616
│ Tax: 819
│ Total: 13435
│ MyPowerCrd: 13435 <<====== On Void Screen it shows 'MyPowerCrd'
│ Total Pay: 13435
However on the printed receipts and in the journal it shows as USER DEFINED TENDERED. And not the 'MyPowerCrd' as setup in the posconfg.
4. I also notice that on the printed receipts you are masking the Gift Card ID from the right. Wouldn't it be better if it was masked from the left like the CC industry does by only showing the last 4 number, instead of the first four? Short of getting custom data cards with a specific ID number format, when generic data cards are purchased, aren't they typically just serial numbered. is 1234500001,1234500002, 1234500003, etc? If so then the masking from the right will show 1234XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX on all sales receipts with a GC as payment. I won't be able to see a different ID on a receipt unless it is my 1 millionth GC owner.
5. Just a tip of my hat to you, Dale. I tried using "My Gift Card" to pay for added funds to "My Gift Cards", but the POS handles it gracefully. But maybe it should have barked and not let me do this.( ie use gift card #ABC as payment for adding value to gift card #ABC.) Just a thought, while we're here, I'd think it would be OK to use Gift Card(#AA) to pay for another Gift Card(#BB). This is OK Right?.
6. For Gift Cards IDs, I would suggest you enforce alpha numeric values and
NO spaces allowed in the string. It allowed me to create a GC ID of "A B". Its a bad thing. Users could accidentally hit a space when selling a card as (GC# "123 abc"). Later, when used as payment the 'card' if typed in as "123abc" would show a balance of zero if not sold yet,
OR worse if it was sold to someone else
and the "123 abc" owner was entered as "123abc" on a sales transaction they would be consistently using up the GC balance of the person that was sold the "123abc" card. Nobody would catch this rogue GC unless it showed up on a report......hmmmm.
26000.GFT
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6.40 7 12345678 íq– 1 12345QW Ž 2 123456 ô3 3 ABC123 4 123 123 ° 5 ÿ ÿ œc 6 ABC123XYZ L 7
USELESS TRIVIA TIME!!! Super bonus point for the Gift Card ID of card #6 and how it was created within the POS!
Not just for Dale. Everyone can play!!
7. From a management point of view. Shouldn't there be a Gift Card Report that shows all the Cards sold. The GC report should have an option like the stock reports.
1. Show All Cards 2. Single Card. Password enforced like other sensitive areas of the POS.
Just tossing this up; maybe an All GC report that shows the original date sold original value, # of transactions used on it, current balance, and date last used. If I have cards 1-100 how do I know if cards are missing in the series? Its like a Gift Card 'BlackBox'.